´A super, modern-day composer is what I want to be', says electronic musician Otto Von Schirach. Also working under the monikers Blotto Von Crack Rock, Docnuke.com, Otto Von Schitpiss and Otto Von Xerox, he is known for productions that use standard tropes of techno, idm, drum and base, hip hop, grindcore and deathmetal, employing the languages of each to make gleefully genre-defying mash ups with political backbone. Breakcore with a message.
Living and working in Miami, in and among the city’s vibrant underground, Von Schirach is closely associated with Schematic and the Beta Bodega labels, also based in South Florida. He has four full-length releases on Schematic. The first, in 2001, 8000B.C, won him immediate notoriety. The second, Escalo Frio, features guest appearances from several artists including Matmos. Every release is an attack on the accepted concepts and clichés of electronic music: through parodies and satirical lyrics Schirach challenges and engages listeners with a wink and a smirk.
The Beta Bodega connection is primarily Docnuke.com, Schirach’s uncompromising, politically determined incarnation. Beta Bodega is a diverse network of artists dedicated to directing attention to the relations between the global economy and Latin America and other developing areas. Through several 12” and a CD that brings them together, Schirach’s Petroleum Peep Show, (Rice and Beans, one arm of the Beta Bodega Coalition) sends clear messages aimed at the apathetic, and sends them with a guerrillacore aesthetic. Schirach is also the ringleader of Megadebt, a group of seven ‘members’ that developed with Rise and Defeat, a militant offshoot of Beta Bodega.
Schirach’s dark, iconoclastic humour and political agenda are backed up with a mastery of the sonic spectrum. With incredible attention to structure and technical detail, he creates ear-cleaning cacophonies that will never be mistaken for productions of anyone other than Otto Von Schirach.
Schirach was featured in the 2002 documentary Electro Dziska. He has collaborated with a wide variety of artists including Dr. Flamenco, Takeshi Muto, Phako, Hearts of Darkness, La Mano Fria, Force Fed. He has also produced a remix for Miss Kittin, worked as a sound designer for Skinny Puppy, and opened for them on a number of their American tour dates. He has appeared in the Miami Winter Music Festival, Club Transmediale’s Wasted festival, and in Nov 2005 he toured with Beta Bodega in Japan and Europe.
> www.ottovonschirach.com
Appearances:
> WASTED 3> CTM.06
> CTM.03